


bubblegum heart

by aishiteArtemis



Series: i write aus until i run out of them [5]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Aromantic Character, Confused Naegi Makoto, Dork Naegi Makoto, Gen, He is trying his best, Naegi Makoto is a Ray of Sunshine, Non-Despair Enoshima Junko, Sane Enoshima Junko, Slut Shaming, So yea, Trans Naegi Makoto, anyway junko is trying her best, i felt like we shpuld bring more awareness thay you can be aro but not ace, it rlly bothers me how its jst women usually, pls we love him, she is just confused, slut shaming is bs 2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28526997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aishiteArtemis/pseuds/aishiteArtemis
Summary: junko plays with people's hearts, and today she's set her sights on that of  makoto naegi. however, things may go a little differently for her this time...aka junko is a pansexual aromantic disaster and makoto just wants to help. also slut shaming is bs say it with me
Relationships: Enoshima Junko & Naegi Makoto, ship not intended but if you really want it to be it could be idk
Series: i write aus until i run out of them [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952251
Comments: 8
Kudos: 40
Collections: best of the best: danganronpa edition





	bubblegum heart

**Author's Note:**

> title is from bubblegum b!tch by marina and the diamonds. its a vibe i would recommend
> 
> there's no smut in this but there are a lot of nsfw implications and use of sl.t and wh.re so watch out for that and click away if it makes you uncomfy please! stay safe out there
> 
> in japan people use suffixes called honorifics on people's names to show respect. they also call people by their family names at first. if they're allowed to not use honorifics any more, it means they're sufficiently close to the person for them to consider them a good friend. given names is even more intimate.

Junko Enoshima tended to play with people's hearts.

It didn't start out intentionally, not at all. It was just that Aoi's hair looked so soft and her eyes had a sort of strange look in them that... interested her somehow. 

Junko was not lacking in self confidence. She was a model after all, so of course she was aware of her own attractiveness. So she decided, what did she have to lose? Why not go over there and flirt with the swimmer girl? So she did, just because she could.

One thing led to another, inevitably, with Aoi's bashful blushes and Junko's wandering hands when they happened to be alone. And she enjoyed that thing, rather a lot. She hadn't ever done the deed before then, but she definitely liked it, and wouldn't have minded doing it again.

But she found she couldn't, because there was an issue, and when Aoi shyly asked her about becoming an item, were they girlfriends now? Junko didn't know what to say.

It wasn't that she didn't want Aoi, that she was unattractive or that she annoyed her. The girl was perfectly pleasant, and a good lay besides, but Junko ran into the issue that she had no idea of or real interest in the romantic side of a relationship.

She tried, she really did. All the things she'd seen on TV. She said they could go out, she bought her presents, gave her small, chaste kisses. But as Aoi blushed as they held hands, Junko felt nothing at all. Simply boredom and slight discomfort.

They broke up soon after. Junko wasn't such a scumbag that she would continue leading her on when she had worked out she didn't want that kind of relationship with her, so she did it quick, like ripping off a band aid. It was her fault entirely, not Aoi's, but Aoi still cried for days, and Junko hated herself for it.

Why couldn't she just act like a good girlfriend? Why did she never feel anything unless they were getting hot and heavy? Why wasn't she normal? She felt dirty, to say the least. 

After a while, she wondered if it might just be with girls. She didn't feel any kind of sexual preference towards any gender, but perhaps she would like boys romantically? It was worth the try, at least.

Leon caught Junko's eye when he was out on the field playing baseball, and she felt that familiar feeling and began to entertain those daydreams once again. Not the insipid ones of dancing in the rain with him the heroine of the romcom Mukuro had dragged her to watch last weekend had thought about. Ones of a less innocent nature.

So she flirted with him, and he flirted back with a suggestive grin, and they slipped into the bathrooms one day after practice when things got heated. And Junko loved it as well, just as much as she had liked doing the deed with Aoi. She loved the feeling of satisfaction and wanted it to continue.

But of course Leon asked those awkward questions about whether she wanted to go out, and Junko knew that it was never going to work. So she rebutted him, said it was a one-time thing and got nasty when he wouldn't drop it. She didn't mean to, really, but she couldn't get trapped in a one-sided relationship again like she had with Aoi: the guilt over that still lingered and she didn't want to repeat it.

She couldn't help but feel broken then. Wasn't the idealistic dream to meet a man (or indeed a woman), fall in love, get married and live together all your lives? But Junko was stuck on the first step, the sexual attraction all there but her inability to be romantic ruining everything.

Junko conceded that she'd never feel comfortable in the kind of committed relationship her classmates were in, with the soft smiles and romantic gestures and cute dates where they held hands and blushed at one another.

She still found lots of people in her class cute though. There were lots of attractive people around her, and she didn't want to become a complete hermit and ignore all the hot people. Only an idiot would do that, and that, although she was not the cleverest in the class, Junko was not.

So they would just have to be one-time things, then. No problem with that.

It was this way Junko came to be known as the resident heartbreaker. Not a reputation she particularly enjoyed having, but it didn't bother her too much.

This week, she'd set her sights on Makoto Naegi.

The boy was still comically short, just as he had been when they were in their first year at Hope's Peak. A little taller, granted, but not significantly. And his face was so ridiculously innocent most of the time, and she felt she'd like to corrupt it a little. 

She had happened to reach school early, and on reaching their registration class with Mukuro, she noticed the boy was sitting alone in the classroom. Junko made a beeline for the desk in front of him, plonking herself down in the seat and turning around.

Mukuro sighed but decided not to do anything about it. She'd seen her sister do this many times, and she honestly felt sorry for the guy, but it wasn't really her business.

"Heyyyy, Naegi-kun, good morning!" Junko grinned widely, kneeling on her seat and leaning over the back of it.

The sound of her voice seemed to startle the boy to attention and he jumped a little before his eyes focused on her. "Oh, h-hello, Enoshima-san."

Junko made a face. "You knowww, there's no need for the formalities. Junko will do fine."

Her words seemed to surprise him anew and he tilted his head to the side a little. "J-Junko? But I don't know you that well, Enoshima-san."

She leaned over the chair further and booped his nose with a finger. "Hey, but I want to! You're very cute, you know, Naegi-kun." she added, seemingly casually.

Naegi blushed deliciously, and she couldn't help but grin. "I... Not really..."

"Nah, nah, yes really, Naegi." she continued, leaning towards to him until their faces were close enough for the boy's blush to deepen. "I think you're completely adorable." (She tipped her head to the side with a devious smirk.)

"En-Enoshima-san," Naegi tried to say, clearly struggling. "What's up with you?"

"What do you think, Naegi-kun?" Junko asked teasingly. He looked like he was about to combust with that tomato-red face, and she liked that. Wished he wasn't so desperately shy, though. "Perhaps I'm feeling dirty."

Naegi blinked, gulped and tried to compose himself. "Enoshima-san, you know I wouldn't-!"

"Or would you, though?" Junko questioned. Noticing his silence, she continued, "You know, I'm staying after school today. I don't know if you'd like to... join me? Just us two."

The boy's thought process was clearly visible and familiar to Junko. Composing himself, considering, debating with himself, then coming to a decision.

"Um, okay then, Enoshima-san?" he smiled, with a slightly awkward expression on his face.

"Great!" she grinned, showing childish excitement. "I'll be glad to see you!"

It was odd, she hadn't expected it to be this easy, with how shy he seemed. Odd, but not unwelcome.

\- - -

The bell rang as Junko left the classroom, on her way to maths. But she heard a vaguely interesting-sounding conversation behind her, and she didn't like maths at all, so in her desire to waste time, she decided to eavesdrop on it.

"...So, uh, that happened," Naegi said, with a light blush gracing his face. From the expressions of his companions, she'd guess the boy had just told them about their encounter earlier that morning. Curious.

"You're not really going to sleep with her, are you, Naegi? You can do much better." said a guy Junko didn't recognise.

Naegi's expression changed to one of confusion. "How so, Konaka?"

"Well, she's a total whore is why. Sleeps with anyone."

The word didn't really hurt Junko much any more, she'd been called it enough times that she'd become rather desensitized to it, but the atmosphere in the room had tangibly changed, and Naegi's voice took on a tone that was far from his usual modest one. "Excuse me? What is wrong with you?"

"Hey, no need to get all shirty with me. I don't see why you're so mad anyway, she clearly is."

"Tell me, Konaka, you sleep with a lot of girls, do you not?" said Naegi, his tone impassive.

"Well, yes, but that's different."

"And how is it different? Please explain."

"Well, uh, cause I'm a guy, of course-"

"Right then," Naegi interrupted, uncharacteristically coldly. "You see, that's called a double standard, Konaka. You're a fucking hypocrite."

Junko wasn't sure whether to laugh or be startled by Naegi's sudden change in demeanor, and the swear word, something she would never have imagined him to say, so merely continued to listen.

"Hey, chill dude. I don't know why it's a big deal. Anyway, when she blows you off as well, I'm sure you'll have a change of heart."

"Doubt it," Naegi muttered in irritance, before Junko heard his retreating footsteps.

Hm. She wondered why he was so quick to defend her. She could jump to conclusions, but in the end she worried it was because he genuinely wanted to have some sort of relationship with her, and she felt guiltier than ever.

\- - -

Class ended for the day, and Junko remained in the classroom, taking a seat on one of the desks near the front and swinging her long legs idly. As time went by, she wondered briefly whether Naegi was actually coming, or if he'd simply said so to end the conversation. It did seem like something he might do, awkward as he was... but her fears were swiftly alleviated when she heard the door open and saw his stupid red trainers stepping inside.

"Enoshi-" Naegi began, before the girl half-pounced on him from her perch. She grinned widely and pulled him closer to her.

"Hey, Naegi-kun," Junko said, leaning down somewhat and whispering it in his ear. She felt a shiver go through the boy's body and took it as her cue, her warm breath feathering over his neck as she held onto him.

"E-Enoshima-san!" said Naegi, with clear surprise. "Hey, stop."

The reply so surprised Junko that she did stop. "Stop? Don't you like it, Naegi-kun?"

Naegi sighed. "It's not that I don't like it... I just... didn't come here for that."

Junko tilted her head. "Did you not? I thought the implications were clear." She leaned towards him once again.

"They were," he said, determinedly and calmly. "Enoshima-san, I'm not going to have sex with you."

"No?"

"No. I just wanted to talk."

"Huh," Junko said, drawing back from him. "Why'd you wanna do that?"

"I thought there might be something wrong?" Naegi said, his voice rising questioningly at the end. 

"Why'd you think that?"

"Well... I knew you in our first year. Well, didn't know you exactly, just saw you a little, I people-watch sometimes- anyway, you just seemed a lot happier before... before all this." Naegi explained, in his usual flustered way. "Now I'm not going to act like there's anything wrong with you sleeping around with a bunch of people, because there literally isn't, but you just always seem sort of... guilty about it and things. So I thought maybe if we talked..."

Junko stared at him. He'd hit the nail right on the head somehow. She knew the guy was pretty smart but she hadn't thought he could've worked all this out.

She thought about denying it, telling him to go away and not to interfere in her life, perhaps in more colourful words. But there was a lot of bottled up emotion inside of her and without even thinking about it she found herself blurting everything out between sobs.

"I'm... I'm sorry Naegi, you're right, I'm not okay, I think I'm broken or something, I just can't be romantic no matter how hard I try, it never works out, I can never do it right but I still find people hot and I wanna fuck them but I feel so so so so guilty because I'm broken and I can't make them happy and I'm just a whore-"

"Shhh," Naegi said soothingly, giving the crying girl a hug and stroking her hair softly. "It's alright, Enoshima-san. Let it all out."

Junko's sobs tailed off as she realised what she'd done. She'd spilled her secrets to this guy and now he'd know what a fool she was, how she was broken and he'd go tell his friends - no, Naegi would never do that, he was too kind - but he'd know and she'd always know that he knew she wasn't right.

"There, there," he whispered. "You're not broken, Enoshima-san, you're perfectly valid. Maybe a little confused at the moment, but we can work things out together if you'd like. And you're not a whore. That's a word used to put down women for doing something that is perfectly natural and normal."

She gulped back a sob in surprise. "R-Really?"

"Really," Naegi said. "And if you don't want my help, then that's fine. But if you do want it, I'll do my best, because you deserve to be happy."

Junko didn't really know how to name the emotions she was feeling at that moment, so she simply stewed in them for a little longer. They weren't negative, maybe relief? Gratefulness? She didn't know. So she just waited until her tears began to dry on Naegi's shoulder.

"Thank... Thank you." she said, leaning back so she was kneeling in front of Naegi. "If it's alright with you... maybe I'd like that help?"

"Of course," he replied with a smile. "Now it may be a shot in the dark, but have you ever heard of aromanticism?"

"I don't think I have," Junko replied, puzzled.

Naegi took out his phone and tapped the term into Google as she scooched around to see the screen. "Look, here's a definition, not feeling romantic attraction to anyone. Does that sound right?"

"Maybe," she said, "but don't you need to be asexual as well to be that? Like acearo?"

"Oh, not at all, you can be asexual and still feel romantic attraction so it can work the other way around as well, just as easily. And there's a whole spectrum, like greyromantic, which would be that you very rarely feel romantic attraction, or demiromantic, which is when you only feel romantic attraction to someone when you've spent a lot of time getting to know them."

"Oh." was all Junko could say. "It... actually makes a lot of sense."

"See! You're not broken!" Naegi said with a big grin. "Just needed to find some things out. Now if you don't wanna take that kind of label or you feel it doesn't quite fit you that's totally fine. You don't have to assign yourself anything. I just like to because it helps me work myself out."

Junko was starting to feel tears welling up in her eyes again. Maybe... Maybe there was hope for her.

"I feel... I don't know if I'll be able to have any sort of relationship like this though. So there must be something wrong."

"Don't believe the media, Enoshima-san," Naegi said quickly. "You don't need to have a relationship to be happy. You can just have friends. And of course, if you want one, you can. Just gotta make your intentions very clear so there won't be any hurt feelings. Make sure they know that you don't want a romantic relationship and if they get pissy about it once you've explained that it's a problem with them, not you."

Junko couldn't help but smile. What she had done to deserve this man's kindness was beyond her, but she very much appreciated it. She didn't quite feel able to express that, though, so instead she said, "You know, it's really odd to hear you swear, Naegi-kun."

"Hm? Why?"

"I dunno, you just give off innocent vibes, it seems out of place."

"Huh. Well, like most people, I sometimes use them when I get angry."

They sat in strangely comfortable silence for a moment before Junko spoke.

"Also, you got really mad about the slut shaming, for a dude. I didn't think they cared."

"Most don't," Naegi replied, somewhat uncomfortably, "but it's personal for me." He paused. "Ah, whatever. You spilled your guts to me so it's only fair I tell you something in return. I happen to be trans, and while I was still presenting as a girl..."

"Oh!" said Junko, genuinely surprised. "I'd never even.. The thought had never crossed my mind."

Naegi gave an equally surprised smile. "Oh! Well, that's nice to hear. But yeah, it pisses me off especially, not to mention guys never get any of that, in fact people think it's cool."

Junko nodded. "Mhm, people suck sometimes. But you seem to suck less, Makoto Naegi."

"Why thank you, Junko Enoshima," he laughed. "I'd say the same of you."

"I'm... I'm glad I worked this out." she said. "Thank you."

"No problem at all," Naegi said, "I'm glad you did."

There was another short silence between the two.

Are... Are we friends now, maybe? Junko thought. She wasn't sure, it'd been a while since she'd had proper friends.

"Of course, if you'd like." Oops, did she say that out loud? "And if it's alright with you, maybe we could not use any honorifics? I feel like since we kinda know each other's secrets now... But it's totally fine if not!" he assured her.

"Of course... Naegi," Junko replied with a small smile. "Hey, looks like I didn't screw you over, like Konaka said, huh?"

"You heard that?"

"I did. I eavesdrop for fun, better break off your friendship while you have the chance," Junko laughed.

"Nope!" Naegi said, laughing too. "I'm just fine like this!"

"But really, it was appreciated."

\---

Junko was home late again, a common occurrence, except this time she felt no regret.

**Author's Note:**

> i don't rlly expect many people to read this but it was a fic that had to be written so here
> 
> obligatory "comment or kudo if you liked"


End file.
